


Fire, Snow, and A World Beyond Death

by AbsVoD7



Category: Underfell - Fandom
Genre: Gen, Pacifist Route
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-01-05
Updated: 2017-01-05
Packaged: 2018-09-14 22:39:26
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 16,456
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9207749
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AbsVoD7/pseuds/AbsVoD7
Summary: After barely adjusting to Hollow World the human returns from their first death to hear about Flowey's past and try to reason with Toriel. They also learn a bit about the underground and its ambitious overlord before entering the tundra environment of Snowdin. It quickly becomes clear that the struggle is just beginning as the duo have their first run in with Sans and Papyrus.





	

**Author's Note:**

> This story takes place after Too Warm of a Welcome and is part two of this fan series.

     It was dark all around the human. They heard a noise in the distance. While they weren’t completely sure what it was, it seemed like there was something rather far away trying to communicate with them. As the noise kept getting softer and softer the human tried to go after it. However they realized that they weren’t making any progress.

     “Come back!” The human said upon opening their eyes. It was still pitch black all around but for some strange reason white letters began to appear from all directions and form words. The human noticed the word 'confusion' constantly floating around them in circles.

     “This is pretty freaky, what’s going on here?” They said to no one in particular. After looking down the human saw that there was nothing they could possibly be standing on.

     “Where’s the ground?” They blindly asked again. At that point the human started to scream as they suddenly felt like they were falling. _What in the world? Things were just fine a moment ago! I always thought I had a higher chance of drowning than falling to death!_  The human thought. At that moment the fall seemed to come to an end just to be replaced by the feel of surrounding water. _This can’t be happening, I want to be on invisible ground again!_  The human thought. Just like that the human was sitting on a solid flat surface that couldn’t be seen.

     “That was very bizzare. For what reason could I stand, fall, and then drown at a moment’s notice?” The human said while checking their self. At the same time a bunch of small white question marks floated above their head in a circle. The human then felt the floor and thought of a very small puddle of water where their hand was. To their surprise while it still couldn’t be seen, they definitely felt the floor become liquid in that spot.

     “Amazing, but that shouldn't be possible. Is this place responding to my thoughts?” The human wondered. At the same time the word 'discovery' appeared in front of them before ascending into the abyss.

     “Wow, there’s no way this can be real… but is real, all of it. Flowey, the underground, and this place,” the human said while falling to their knees.

     “I died trying to save him back there, it probably didn’t do him any good either. We were powerless against her and now we’re both dead I bet,” the human said while lowering their head and banging on the ground with their fist.

     “I don’t want to accept it,” they said. At the same time a bunch of white letters began to collide with each other.

     “I want to go back,” they continued. Meanwhile the letters then melted into an enormous white blob.

     “I want to keep hanging out with Flowey,” they finished. At that point the blob then split into two pieces which each compressed and reshaped themselves into words. The human lifted their head back up as they noticed one of the words floating out of the corner of their eye. Upon putting both words in their line of sight the human saw that one said 'continue' while the other said 'reset'.

     “Continue? Does that mean that this isn’t over?” The human said. _If this place is truly responding to my thoughts then does that mean it’ll let me leave?_ The human thought.

     “Take me back to Flowey,” the human said while raising their hand towards the word 'continue'. At that point the word became a white blob once more before shifting and compressing into the shape of a door. The door opened on its own and sucked the human into more emptiness.

     “Flowey?” The human called out into nothingness but there was no sound. They then looked at their own hand but couldn’t see it either. All of their senses were null and void at the moment. That was until a very faint noise could be heard in the distance. The noise kept getting louder and louder until the human was finally able to make it out. _Is that a beating heart?_ The human thought.

     “I was right,” Flowey said. The human looked around and saw that they were back in front of Toriel’s house where their soul had previously overflowed with energy.

     “I remember this; wait a minute, Flowey you’re back!” The human said but Flowey seemed less than enthusiastic.

     “What’s up with that look? Do you know-There’s no time, let’s talk later,” Flowey interrupted. At the same time the human was able to hear Toriel humming.

     “I remember this too, does this mean that…” The human stifled the question and knocked on the door. Not too long afterwards Toriel answered it just like she did before.

     “My child, you made it,” she said.

     “It’s the same,” the human responded.

     “What’s the same?” She asked in response.

     “Oh uh, your robe looks very nice, the symbol looks pretty cool as well,” the human responded.

     “Thank you, it’s been through some things as you can tell but it’s one of my favorites,” she said.  
“Your clothes haven’t been doing much better from the looks of things,” she continued.

     “Yeah, I’m not too happy to lose this one but at least I’ll still have the memories,” the human responded. Toriel closed her eyes for a moment before nodding in agreement.

     “That’s the spirit, either way, the food will be ready in a moment so let’s get you into something more comfortable,” Toriel said while motioning the human into her house. All of the following occurrences seemed to follow the same order that they did the last time. However instead of going to bed the human and Flowey stayed up a bit longer to talk.

     “So everything that happened after that has been undone?” The human asked.

     “That’s right, I should’ve known something was up when I couldn’t find the soul anchors anymore,” Flowey responded.

     “Soul anchors? What are those?” The human asked.

     “Whenever your soul overflows with energy the excess power is condensed into a single point that “snapshots” that instant of time and space allowing your soul to return there should you defy crossing over completely,” Flowey explained.

     “It’s just too weird, all the times I was making them I didn’t know that it actually meant something. So we still ended up dying right?” The human asked.

     “Yes, the events to come are going to be identical if not similar to what they were the last time and she won’t have any memory of it. No one will now that I think about it,” Flowey said.

     “I need to know Flowey, what happened with you before meeting me?” The human asked. Flowey had closed his eyes and took a deep breath.

     “The first thing I was able to remember was when I had escaped the king’s castle. I was in a small flower pot and it was dark, but amidst the shadows there was a yellow monster in white. Because of the darkness and the fact that it had its back turned to me I couldn’t really recognize what it was,” Flowey said.

     “What to do with it now?” The monster had asked but I was unable to make out anyone else in the room. Then another voice answered the monster.

     “Obviously the project was a failure so just kill it and be done.” I knew they had to be referring to me so I charged out of the flower pot and started moving. Even though I couldn’t see anything I kept moving forward because the only thought running through my head was that it wasn’t safe here. The monster turned around and took a few steps forward as I ran into something, even then I still couldn’t see their face.

     “You should’ve kept resting, it would’ve made this part easier on you,” the monster said while pulling something from the inside of their shirt. Before I knew it there was the sound of a click and I could see a small yellow light getting brighter and brighter. With my back to the wall I wasn’t sure how I’d get out of there alive. Suddenly a dark red sphere came soaring at me. The monster ducked while I moved to the side to evade it yet the blast knocked me over.

     “You’ve got to be kidding me, first of all you didn’t need to interfere because I had him, second of all watch where your aiming because this job already isn’t worth the trouble, lastly getting work done will be a lot easier if you don’t destroy the place!” The monster shouted. I jumped up upon hearing the word destroy. When I looked to the left there was a rather large hole in the wall with light coming through from the other side so I went through as quickly as possible.

     Escaping to the ruins meant finding a way to traverse the CORE, hotland, waterfall, and snowdin town. However, as I tried to move through each area I heard some monsters talking about orders to survey the different regions for a golden flower. I continued to run making sure to get out of each area as stealthily as I could but no matter how far I’d go or how much I’d hide they kept chasing. After a while I couldn’t help but get boxed in.

     “There’s nothing you can do now,” a large armor wearing monster said.

     “That’s right, your time is officially up,” another identical looking monster said. The two had chased me from hotland and cornered me on the edge of waterfall. Both of them only carried a large curved sword as their weapon of choice.

     “Why can’t you guys just leave me alone!” I shouted but they only stepped closer.

     “You wish it were that easy, per the King’s orders you are to be killed on sight. We couldn’t dare call ourselves royal guardsmen if we couldn’t carry out a task as simple as this one,” the first guardsman said. At that point I tried to ditch them but they were prepared.

     “Where do you think you’re going?” The other guardsman said. He then pulled out a vial and tossed it on the ground. It was then that a bizarre symbol appeared on the ground and a ring of fire generated around all of us.

     “You’ve nothing to do but fight us abomination, fire will instantly claim one who leaves the Crimson Challenge Circle,” the first guardsman said.

     “I don’t want to fight you so can you please just get rid of it?” I asked with evident panic.

     “Too late, only death shall undo the circle now abomination,” the second guardsman said while charging me. I dived under to evade the initial thrust and started moving behind him but the first guardsman stabbed his sword in the ground in an attempt to intercept me. I got around him and popped up but the second guardsman was instantly on me with a slash that got close to splitting my face.

     “You can’t run, we can easily zero in on you by following the soul waves,” the first guardsman said as I dived back under. I kept moving through the ground as he continuously stabbed the earth ahead of me. I had popped up again to see another slash going from the ground up. I leaned backwards and to the side to escape it but a petal got tagged by the ring of fire.

     “You’ve no chance,” the second guardsman said as I dove under to snuff out the flame.

     “It’s time for Inverted Clockwork!” The first guardsman said while moving to the middle of the circle. The second guardsman stood with the first back to back while they both extended the length of their swords by coating them in soul power.

     “Your life is finished abomination,” the second guardsman said. The first guardsman started pressuring me by stabbing into the ground constantly and covering his entire side of the circle with an enormous horizontal cut. I tried getting behind him but his partner would cut through the ground forcing me to stay on that same side, even when I did manage to switch sides the two would simply switch roles to make sure I made no progress. Upon rising up once more I was met with another slash that caught another one of my petals on the way down. With each passing moment it was getting harder to believe I’d get out alive.

     “That’s terrible. How were you able to get passed them?” The human asked. Flowey closed his eyes and looked away as if he wasn’t happy about something.

     “Flowey?” The human said.

     “I told myself that I had to do what must be done,” Flowey answered.

     “We can stay here all day abomination,” the first guardsman said. The two continued to force me on the defensive with no end in sight. Not too long after that I started to get angry. Before I knew it I felt an enormous energy coming from inside of me. I couldn’t help but feel like it wanted to be something more. So I focused as hard as I could until I felt the power start to take form.

     “What was that?” The first guardsman said as I conjured a large vine to sweep him off his feet.

     “Doesn’t matter, just get back into formation,” the second guardsman responded while helping his partner back up.

     “A neat trick but it’ll take more than that to get rid of us,” the first guardsman said. At that point I channeled my energy into highly dense shells and launched them as fast as I could. However both of them posted up side to side and deflected all of my attacks together. The first guardsman then charged me with a dash cut which I dodged by diving behind him as usual. He then turned around and started looking left and right.

     “Huh, where's my partner?” The guardsman asked upon seeing me and no one else in the circle.

     “You’d be wise to give up now,” I told him. At that point he came at me with a leaping plunge that I dived under to escape.

     “Come back, who do you think you are telling me I should be giving up? If you think you’re that strong than stop running away,” the guardsman taunted but I continued to dig around him in circles. Upon hearing a scream the guardsman looked around in confusion. Then there was a large clanging noise as the second guardsman had fell on top of the first. Both of them had hit their fist on the ground as I reemerged to see them piled up in the center of the ring.

     “Using vines I tied your partner to the ceiling and baited you to the middle before dropping him. Now that my effective area exceeds this circle you can’t win. I’m asking you politely to stop fighting, please,” I told them. Instead of yielding the two got back up and proceeded to buff their swords once more.

     “Foolish abomination, like we said before only death shall undo the circle. Hasn’t anyone told you in this world it’s kill or be killed,” the second guardsman said.

     “Why is disregarding your own lives that much more preferable?” I asked while evading and tying their feet together and doing whatever I could to slow their assault.

     “His majesty told us that those who can’t bring themselves to fight don’t have a future. He also warned us that death is the result of failure so coming back empty handed is pointless. There is no better option than slaying the target or perishing on the battlefield,” the first guardsman said.

     “No more talking abomination. It’s time you decide whether or not your final chapter ends now,” the second guardsman said. At that point I was sad, but confused, yet angry at the same time. In my mind I just kept shouting I don’t want to die over and over again. They came at me one after another; I tied the first one’s feet together before suspending the other one in the air. I started to pull at each of his limbs but I slacked up a bit because it felt too horrible for me.

     “You can’t do it can you? You’re just a failure who’s destined to die,” the constricted guardsman said. At that point my anger crushed the remaining emotions and I pulled at all the limbs even harder than before. As his body reached its limit I heard him talk in a strained voice.

     “May the new age be… blessed with… even stronger… monsters!” Upon completing his sentence my vines tore each limb off and the anger was instantly replaced with dread. Amidst the center of his body I saw the soul emerge. It started vibrating violently up until the point it cracked in half and shattered. It was then that the rest of him started to fade into dust until all that remained was the now empty set of armor.

     “I didn’t want to do any of this. Couldn’t there have been another way?” I asked myself. Well at least I can leave before it gets even worse. I thought, but before the circle had faded completely the other guardsman pulled out a vial that looked just like the first one.

     “Don’t think you’ve earned freedom just yet,” the last guardsman said while throwing the vial on the ground.

     “We could’ve just walked away, why’d you do that?” I asked but he didn’t respond. Instead he used his free hand to pick up the sword of his fallen partner and charged me. I grew angry again as he kept on me with the dual wielding onslaught. I wondered why the King had everyone live this way and what he did to make everyone put his way of doing things above their own.

     “No more,” I said as the guardsman advanced yet again. I knocked both swords out of each hand with vines before tying his hands behind his back and shooting shells into each knee.

     “Who is the King?” I asked him. All he did was start laughing.

     “I who am prepped for death owe nothing. You are but a creature deemed to have no future by his majesty. Strike fast and be on your way because the guard continues the hunt even now,” the guardsman said.

     “I may be on the run now but I will find him,” I told the guardsman.

     “Tell someone else because I won’t be around long enough to care,” he responded. In a fit of anger I swung him around and tossed him out of the circle causing him to instantly explode into a ball of flames. The circle died out and dust began to float about the air. Even though I was still frustrated about what I had to do, I heard noises in the distance so I pushed everything aside and kept running.

     The events were haunting my mind as I continued racing through each of the regions. I couldn’t stop myself from thinking about how bad that all was and how wrong it seemed for them to accept it so naturally. It got to the point that sleep was the last thing on my mind. I didn't want to interact with anyone so whenever I would see other monsters around I started exhibiting highly anti-social activity.

     I was running through Waterfall when I accidentally bumped into a pair of monsters going by the names Aaron and Shyren. Aaron was a muscular horse like monster with a long green serpent’s tail. Shyren on the other hand was a fish like monster with a seahorse body which acted independently from the head for some reason.

     “Hey, you better apologize to her this instant buddy. Don’t think you’ll be able to handle all of this,” Aaron told me with a flex and a wink. Shyren just quietly got back up without so much as looking in my direction. For a moment I gave a blank stare while begging them not to make a scene in my mind.

     “Uh, I’m sorry about that,” I said while trying to get past but Aaron blocked me off.

     “Where’s your manners, you need to go right up to her face and tell her you’re sorry or else you and I are going to end up getting really dirty,” Aaron said followed by another wink. I was really confused at this point but nonetheless I tried to meet Shyren’s gaze but her head kept rotating in the opposite direction.

     “This is actually pretty hard,” I said.

     “You bet it is,” Aaron said with a wink. I was highly confused and slightly creeped out even, but all of that disappeared when Aaron started giving me a suspecting look.

     “Wait a minute, you’re the thing that’s being hunted by the royal guard!” He said. At that point Shyren had let out a gasp.

     “Flack, I can’t afford to be held up again,” I said while summoning a group of vines to strangle Aaron. Shyren tried to make a run for it but I trapped her in a dome of vines and proceeded to crush her. I felt horrible because they wouldn’t have died had we not all met up at the wrong time and place.

     While I was in the Snowdin Forest another monster was getting too close for comfort. He appeared to be made of snow but their was an unusually shaped chunk of ice on the top of his head.

     “Weird, I’ve never seen anything like you before,” he told me.

     “I just recently traveled here from Waterfall,” I told him while moving on. Instead of leaving he kept following me though.

     “You sure you’ve never been around here before, because I feel like I’ve seen you somewhere,” he said.

     “Nope, first time here, we’re all different but a monster’s still a monster. It’s been a tiring day so could you leave me alone please,” I responded.

     “I can respect that,” he said. It was then that we both turned around because a pair of royal guard members could be heard in the distance.

     “He’s over here!” The snow creature said. I immediately whacked his ice hat so hard that it shattered then I split the rest of his body down the middle for good measure. I didn’t kill him fast enough however, because the royal guard members were already coming for me. I kept running towards the ruins. I got there from Toriel’s house but at the time her place was empty.

     “Where is it?” The royal guard members said while searching for me. I had baited them into a room filled with a plethora of normal golden flowers. Upon seeing them give up the search for now. I came out of hiding and tried to sleep. But instead tears rolled down my face as the cost of my freedom dawned on me. A few weeks had passed since then. Each day was met with more searches and every now and then I was forced to keep killing until one day everything had changed.

     “I found you!” An unknown voice said. I looked around frantically to see who it was. It happened to be Toriel, she was slowly approaching me while talking with herself.

     “Back off. I don’t want to kill you,” I told her.

     “It’s going to kill me? I can’t have that. Not when I still haven’t figured out the secret,” she responded while placing a hand on each side of her face.

     “What secret? Never mind, don’t say I didn’t warn you,” I said while sending a vine for her neck. However, she caught it in her hand and set it aflame.

     “Is that fire magic? Who are you?” I asked.

     “I am Toriel, the new caretaker of the ruins. I have to kill you if I want it back,” she answered.

     “What?” I responded. Instead of answering she launched a fireball at me which scorched the area and the ground beneath it. _This woman has a few screws loose,_ I thought while trying my best to find someplace to hide. Out of nowhere I felt the area get a little warmer. _Odd, the effects of that attack couldn't have reached this far already,_  I thought. Not too long after that I turned around to see her standing right behind me.

     “Now’s not the time for hide and seek, I’ve waited long enough as it is,” she said while starting another fire in the palm of her hands. I tried escaping but the entire ground was burnt and I felt like it was a struggle to breathe.

     “My memory has been off as of late, but killing you became a big deal recently from what I remember,” she said while following my coughs. I looked around but there was nowhere left for me to run.

     “We don’t know what he wants from you, but he has something very important of ours,” she said while closing in on me. _What’s going on in that head of hers that made her turn I and mine into we and ours?_ I thought.

     “There we go,” she said upon finding me. At that point the entire ground started to burn except for a small area surrounding me. I tried to tie her up but she channeled a coat of fire around her body incinerating any vine to touch her. I started coughing once more.

     “It’s all right, the struggle is about to end soon enough,” she said while walking even closer. I didn’t want to die but I was choking and all of my powers were rendered useless. I tried diving again but the scorched ground was proving too difficult for me to power through.

     “You appear to be slowing down, why not accept the fact that you’ve given it your all?” She said while pulling me out of the ground. I was looking at her with practically nothing left; I couldn’t even speak properly at that point either. As she held me tighter the smile on her face started to get wider and wider.

     “You are the key,” she said while setting me on fire. While I was upset at that I failed to accomplish anything with what felt like a very short lifetime, I was also relieved that the constant fighting was finally coming to an end. Or so I thought.

     “Where is it?” I heard a royal guard member say. I was confused as to why I saw myself in this situation again. Stranger than that was the fact that everything seemed to be happening in the same order as last time. Toriel was the death of me again and once again I was being hunted by members of the royal guard.

      _Everything’s been resetting itself, but why only events after reaching that room?_  I wondered. Being forced to battle and kill the same royal guard members again was pretty unsettling for me. I didn’t want to stop living, but thinking about the fact that Aaron, Shyren, the Icecap, and that team of royal guardsman will never be seen again left me scarred. I kept running and dying and resetting for what felt like many years until after a while I considered giving up. Not too long after that I met you.

     “Wow, that’s pretty sad,” the human said while moving closer to Flowey.

     “Don’t hug me,” Flowey responded.

     “What? Why?” They asked.

     “Obviously because you could crush me, but mainly because I’ve accepted what I’ve done and that there’s no going back. Now you know my story but don’t worry about it, I’ll be fine,” Flowey answered.

     “It doesn’t sound like something you can manage so easily, but I’ll trust you,” the human responded.

     “We should figure out our next course of action, because if we can’t find a way to survive against her we’ll just get cooked again,” Flowey said.

     “True, thing is we lose the space to move around if we head towards the exit and the house itself will burn down if we stay up here,” the human responded.

     “You’re right,” Flowey said.

     “You think with water we could stop her from making flames?” The human asked.

     “It won’t do any good. She makes the fire using soul energy allowing it to be resistant to water as well as harmless to her person,” Flowey answered.

     “I guess that explains why her fur is never burned,” the human responded. The two stayed up for an hour and a half trying to figure things out.

     “We can’t touch her at all,” Flowey said.

     “I hate to admit it, but we sure can't,” the human responded.

     “You ought as well get some rest before dying tomorrow. If you’re lucky you might learn something new,” Flowey said.

     “Wow, you don’t really- She’s coming this way,” Flowey interrupted. The door opened and Toriel entered the room carrying a plate.

     “Hello my child, I wasn’t expecting you to be this active after such a long day. I thought you might be hungry so I brought you some pie,” she said while setting a plate and napkin on the floor.

     “Thank you very much,” the human said.

     “You’re welcome, I only want the best for you,” Toriel said while taking a seat next to the human and resting a hand on their shoulder. _Then start cooking better food,_  Flowey thought to himself.

     “Question, what made you decide to open up your home to lost humans?” The human asked.

     “My memory used to be a lot better than this. From what I do remember I used to have two children of my own but they… they… um. Well my husband he… he had…” The human raised an eyebrow as Toriel tried to finish her sentences but failed. They were then caught by surprise as Toriel placed both hands up to her face and started crying. The human kept quiet and gave her a hug.

     “Not in a million years did I think he’d do something like this to me,” she said.

     “Who are they and what did they do?” The human asked. At that point Toriel stood up with a more serious expression on her face than before and started walking towards the door.

     “Sorry you had to deal with that. Don’t stay up too late, the body needs rest,” she said on her way out.

     “That was interesting,” Flowey said.

     “Yeah, that definitely didn’t happen before. Shouldn’t she have stopped by this room a few hours from now?” The human asked.

     “Well, we haven’t helped everything unravel the same way as before. There are countless reasons as to why the events changed, but I assume it had to do with either us making noise or the lights being kept on for a certain amount of time,” Flowey responded.

     “I see, well that’s good news. Think about it, the pie slice is right here, we were actually awake to talk with her this time, maybe she won’t get angry tomorrow,” the human said.

     “I don’t think we’ll be that lucky. Toriel is still dangerously lonely and you’re still trying to leave so confronting her seems like an inevitable event,” Flowey responded. The human let out a sigh.

     “You’re right, why can’t we reach an understanding. I’m really not looking forward to fighting her. I don’t even know how we’re going to fight her,” the human said.

     “We already looked into it as much as we could. Between our environment, your lack of ability, and my weakness to fire, beating her seems impossible,” Flowey said.

     “That can’t be all there is to it Flowey. She doesn’t seem like she wants to be a murderer. I don’t know what happened to mess with her memory but something very important of hers is missing and she’s willing to kill you for it,” the human responded.

     “I get that she was put up to the task of killing me, but that didn’t stop this place from gathering a truckload of monster dust,” Flowey said.

     “I know Flowey. You’re the one who told me that this world is kill or be killed. If she’s as determined to not to lose this memory as I think, then I’m sure that killing hostile monsters seemed necessary to her,” the human responded.

     “But wouldn’t- I’m not saying that everyone has made the right decisions, but I at least want to believe they could change given the chance,” the human interrupted. Flowey let out a sigh.

     “Know that I’ve got your back. It doesn’t look like we’ll beat her in a fight. However her feelings have always seemed sincere, so her situation is definitely too complex for you to simply brand her as a pointless murderer. That might be our only chance of getting out of here,” Flowey said.

     “Right, unless I level with her it doesn’t seem like I’ll ever be able to leave this place,” the human said while placing Flowey on top of the dresser. They then turned off the lights and climbed into the bed.

     “I’m not the most enthusiastic person as you already know,” Flowey said. The human looked over and raised one eyebrow.

     “Your point is?” The human asked.

     “In the case that we can’t handle Toriel, give or take a few resets, does that mean that you’ll have to live here?” Flowey asked.

     “I never thought about that. She’s not a bad person to hang around with when she puts herself ahead of those memories. However staying here would mean never going home, more importantly I’d have to learn how to cook extremely fast.” Flowey chuckled at the human’s joke.

     “Goodnight,” Flowey said before closing his eyes. The two then slept without any disturbances in the middle of the night this time. While they did wake up slightly later than before it didn’t appear to change anything.

     “Is she there?” The human asked. Flowey poked his head around the corner to see Toriel reading a book in the same living room chair as last time.

     “Yeah, she’s there,” Flowey answered while pulling back. “You sure you’re ready to do this?”

     “We’ve pondered all day and night and haven’t got any closer to nailing her soft spot. Our only option is to hope that we can get her to power through the blocks in her memory,” the human said.

     “I’ve never tried to play therapist before so if that’s how it works I guess I’m on board,” Flowey responded.

     “We have no choice Flowey, I have to get her to open up to me or else I’ll never be able to talk her down,” the human responded before entering the living room.

     “Hello my child. Did you have a good night’s rest?” Toriel asked.

     “Yes I did, it’s a very comfy room,” the human answered. They noticed Toriel’s gaze start to hone in on Flowey and quickly placed him behind their back.

     “I’m glad you had a nice rest. The pie is in the fridge if you’re hungry; just grab a slice and I’ll heat it up for you,” Toriel said while getting back to her book.

     “What are you reading?” The human asked hoping for light conversation.

     “This book contains many facts on the numerous types of snails in the world. It helps me come up with more recipes,” Toriel answered. _Goat monsters cook snails? She didn’t mix snail into that pie did she?_ The thought of Toriel cooking something more inedible than the pie was enough to make the human’s stomach churn.

     “You think…” The human tried to finish the sentence but couldn’t. The thought of Toriel slamming her fist on the table came back to their mind. Toriel looked up at them with a confused look on her face.

     “What’s the matter?” Toriel asked.

     “No, I’m fine. I’m going to get some air if you don’t mind,” the human said.

     “There’s nothing wrong with that. Just don’t stay out too long,” Toriel responded. The human then walked out the front door while Flowey gave them a suspecting look.

     “You’re afraid, aren’t you?” Flowey asked. The human sat down and set the boot on the ground next to them.

     “I understand perfectly. Knowing you died once already is odd enough. I wouldn’t be enthusiastic about knowing that it might happen again. I’m not going to tell you that the pain is forgettable, or that rewinds won’t change you forever. Just remember that you have a goal in mind and that you can’t let anything stop you from getting it done,” Flowey said.

     “You’re right, I shouldn’t have backed down,” the human said.

     “Don’t worry about it. I’ve doubted myself several times before. You can go a lot further than I did, so get back in there and show her how determined you are to get home,” Flowey said.

     “Alright, I can deal with whatever happens,” the human said while picking up Flowey’s boot. They then opened the door and headed back toward the living room.

     “Hey there, back so soon? I guess that’s not too surprising with it being all dusty outside,” Toriel said. The human gave a not so honest chuckle in response.

     “Toriel listen, this place is really great, but I was wondering when you’d help me go home,”the human asked. At this point Toriel’s eyes started to widen.

     “What do you mean child? This is your home now,” Toriel responded. Hearing that again caused a chill to run down the human’s spine. _I’ve come too far to turn now,_ the human thought.

     “But I have to go back. Ever since entering the barrier my memory has gotten as rough as yours but I can’t escape the feeling of someone waiting for me up there. You know what that’s like, right?” The human asked.

     “I think that… that… maybe… someone… I don’t know!” Toriel said while placing both hands on her head. The human placed Flowey on the ground and cautiously took one of Toriel’s hands in their own.

     “Yesterday you tried to tell us of your children right? They’d try their best to get back to you if they could, am I right?” The human said.

     “Yes… they would… but they can’t,” Toriel responded.

     “I know you can do it. Tell us about them, please,” the human said. Tears started to form in Toriel’s eyes.

     “They’re… gone. I can’t… remember who they were,” Toriel answered. She then looked at Flowey, but the human moved to block her view of him. They saw her slowly getting enshrouded in grief and gave her a hug. She hugged them back and continued crying.

     “The flower is key,” she said while toning down on the crying. “I can get a name if I kill it,” she explained.

     “That’s pretty sad. Who made you do this?” The human asked. It was then that the crying had suddenly stopped.

     “It’s all Asgore’s fault. My memories of them, he ruined it all!” She answered. Her expression was now a fusion of remorse and anger.

     “Every now and then I have memories of raising my first child. I wanted more than anything to secure a great future for them. The only thing I remember about them now is that their favorite clothes consisted a green shirt, with yellow stripes”-  at this point Toriel paused and wiped her face.

     “-And black pants,” the human said, completing her sentence. Toriel gave a look of surprise while the human gave a warm smile. She then gave a look of annoyance while the human raised an eyebrow in confusion. She then gave a furious look while the human finally understood what happened. _Great, I can't believe I flacked it up so hard,_  the human thought to their self.

     “Didn’t anyone teach you not to invade someone's personal privacy?” Toriel said as the human broke the hug and ran towards Flowey. Flames sparked from her hands setting the chair on fire while the human with Flowey in hand vaulted over the side of the stairs and ran down the second half as fast as possible.

     “That's a shame, you were so close too. Anyway, you've got a triple shot incoming, low high and mid,” Flowey said while looking over the human’s shoulder. The human hopped into a slide to evade the first and second fireballs before moving to the right to avoid the last one. They then cleared the corner and made it halfway down the hall. It wasn't long afterwards that Flowey let out a sigh.

     “Here we go again,” Flowey said. The human slid to a stop and watched as a streak of flame ran along the wall all the way to the exit door and coated it in a firewall.

     “Find a good position,” the human told Flowey while throwing the boot as far as they could to the far left side of the exit. The boot hit the floor spilling out the dirt as well as Flowey who instantly dug into ground. Upon turning around the human saw Toriel coming from behind the corner.

     “You manipulative little trouble maker, you’ve got some nerve. To think you’d try to take advantage of me at my most vulnerable moment,” she said while generating blue flames in her hands. “Problem children like you must be punished!” She yelled.

     “I wasn’t trying to take advantage,” the human said as Toriel launched a Cyclonic Blaze in their direction. The human prepped to dive out of the way but got caught off guard as the attack drove into the ground.

      _She can do that?_  The human thought. Suddenly the attack burst from the wall to the human’s left and advanced. The human hopped back as quickly as possible but they weren’t quick enough to stop the first part of the attack from burning their left shoulder. Toriel saw healing pellets go into the human and turned around. However Flowey was directly above her. Finding the blind spot gave him enough time out of her line of sight to go back into the dirt unnoticed.

     “Angering me was the last mistake you two will ever make,” Toriel said while generating the flame whip. _Funny, last time I would’ve believed that,_  the human thought to their self. Toriel went for the left arm then swept. The human responded by leaning backwards to the right followed by a short hop. They then wiped the sweat from their forehead with one sleeve and took a deep breath.

     “Toriel remembers a better time. Toriel loves children. Toriel wouldn’t be happy to see a child die!” The human told her. Toriel gave a look of confusion as they continued to talk.

     “This isn’t you. When you let your fears take control of your actions you no longer act like yourself. You’re not being Toriel right now!” The human shouted. For a moment she was taken aback. However as the moment left she got even angrier.

     “You don’t know who I am, you definitely don’t know who I was,” she said while slowly waving a hand from the left to the right.

     “Flame Watcher’s Avatar!” She said. The human’s heartbeat sped up dramatically as they saw the giant spectral hand appear. _There’s no way I'll get around all of that,_  the human thought while the giant fire orbs started to spawn.

     “Stop!” Flowey shouted while popping up in front of Toriel.

     “You! Just die already!” Toriel said while shooting a fireball at Flowey. He escaped it with his usual dive and dash maneuver. “Leave them alone!” He shouted from down the hall. Toriel turned around and pointed a finger upon seeing Flowey at the end of the hall they just came from. The giant hand turned around as well and cast the giant flame orbs in Flowey’s direction. After several explosions went off both Toriel and the human could make out some slight coughing in the distance.

      _Always the lifesaver he is. It’s my turn now,_  the human thought while running towards Toriel. A light started to glow at the tip of her finger indicating the Flame Watcher’s Eye being put to use, but before she could cast it she noticed the human getting closer and snapped her fingers. A flame streaked between the human and Toriel but the human broke through the fire and tackled her.

     “Stop this right now, remember the better times. It’s not worth carrying on like this,” the human said while binding both of her arms. Flowey took the opportunity to heal the human while they had her immobilized.

     “Empress Veil,” Toriel said. Instantly her entire body became cloaked in a shroud of fire. The human quickly rolled and continued rolling until they didn’t feel and fires on them. They then pushed their self off the ground as quickly as possible while Toriel started talking.

     “There’s no going back now. We’ve been broken for far too long. You’ll never know the pain of slowly forgetting everything you thought you’d cherish forever,” Toriel said while moving toward the human. She then wrapped her left hand around her right wrist while holding her palm out in their direction.

     “Run!” Flowey shouted from somewhere. The human took off in the opposite direction as the light in her hand grew brighter and brighter. Upon reaching the exit door,they turned around to see Toriel’s attack glowing so intense that it made her invisible.

     “Jump!” The human heard Flowey shout from above. The human looked up and saw Flowey sticking out of a part the ceiling that had been squared off. The change of heights made it to where this area couldn’t be seen from where Toriel was standing. The human jumped like he said and was surprised as a large amount of vines wrapped around them and pinned them to the ceiling.

     “You’re a fool to think we can just change at the drop of a dime,” Toriel said while projecting a large flame magic laser down the hall. While the attack only collided with the exit, the width of the beam was large enough to catch the bottom part of the human’s vine coat on fire. The human started to shake as the flames were getting even closer but the attack hadn’t faded yet.

     “I know I know, just stay calm for a couple of seconds,” Flowey said. As soon as the attack disappeared Flowey dropped the human on the ground who instantly started rolling back and forth to put out the flames. After healing them again Flowey disappeared back into the earth.

     “It’s become hard to keep nice clothes these days,” the human said while pushing their self off the ground again.

     “You’re oddly chill for someone who’s close to dying. Don’t you think struggling is more important at the moment?” Toriel responded.

     “Of course, I still haven’t given up. You’re the one who’s convinced that this is the only way for you to keep living,” the human said.

     “You don’t have the faintest idea of how brutal it is down here. That idealism of yours will be crushed in moments,” Toriel said.

     “How would you know? You’ve bent to the rules forced upon you for so long that you can’t even see when someone does something for you out of concern,” the human said.

     “I haven’t broken down to the point that I’d take anything from anyone, and I can still tell a rat when I see one,” Toriel responded.

     “I find that hard to believe. It sounds like the one who ruined your life still has you running errands. If the memories are that important then what’s stopping you from taking them back?” The human said. Toriel sent a barrage of fireballs out as her anger spiked once more.

     “You’ve spent a lot of time getting angry instead of doing something about it,” the human said while dodging fireballs.

     “Shut up and burn already!” Toriel shouted while placing both hands on the ground. At this point a sphere of flame surrounded her and the floor slowly started heating up.

     “I’m sorry,” Flowey said while generating vines from directly above the human.

     “For what?” The human asked. Flowey then yanked the human off the ground by their ankles causing them to hit their head on the way down.

     “Ouch!” The human said while being pulled up to the ceiling again. At the same time the ground became dangerously hot.

     “You did good. Her moves are getting a lot riskier now,” Flowey said while binding the human’s feet.

     “You’ve seen this before?” The human asked while hanging upside down.

     “Nope, as strange as it sounds I believe not having a soul has allowed me to better perceive how others use theirs. Don’t worry about it, I’ll assist your movements, you better get out of the way because the temperature is rising directly beneath you,” Flowey said. The human looked up, which was technically down at this point and saw that the ground was changing from a dark red to yellow color. Flowey constantly reattached the human’s feet as they moved allowing them to run on the ceiling to get clear of a flame geyser. After that a ball of white flame shot out from the ground and landed next to the human’s foot. They backed away from the spot and was surprised to see a small white crystal emerge from where the attack had hit.

     “What is that?” The human said while walking over to the crystal. They backed off once again upon realizing that another geyser was going off beneath them. As the geyser ceased the human looked back at the spot and saw the crystal grow even larger than before. They then raised an eyebrow in confusion as one pulse of their soul caused them to get two resonance signals from both Toriel and the crystal.

     “That doesn’t make sense, unless… she must’ve made solidified soul energy,” Flowey said.

     “What’s that supposed to mean?” The human asked while running away from more geysers and fireballs.

     “I won’t lie this is a longshot but, theoretically if you were to overload this crystal with your soul power it should cause the energy to backlash onto her making her power become unstable for a moment,” Flowey explained.

     “Is it really a good idea to make someone with an unstable mind use an unstable power? Forget it, a plan is a plan because walking on the ceiling hasn’t been as fun as I had hoped,” the human said while running towards the crystal yet again. They placed both hands in front of the crystal and focused but more random attacks kept forcing them to shift around it.

     “You can do this,” Flowey said while keeping an eye out for incoming attacks. The human kept focus on the crystal and was relieved the moment they no longer felt it making a bunch of duplicate resonance signals. A sort of humming noise could be heard coming from the crystal as the human felt the waves made by their own soul get stronger and stronger. The two looked at Toriel’s fire dome and saw it flicker out for a bit before coming back on.

     “Snap, I honestly thought that was going to work,” Flowey said.

     “No, this just means that we have to keep it up,” the human said. To their surprise the crystal next to them suddenly got very bright.

     “Get away from it!” Flowey shouted. The human took off running in the other direction but the crystal exploded sending shards into the human’s back.

     “Ow jeez, what the hell!” The human shouted as the hot shards dug into their back.

     “Flack! That bites, I can’t heal you right now either,” Flowey said.

     “Are you serious?” The human asked.

     “Yeah, I’d have to drop you to focus on healing so you’re going to have to power through it,” Flowey responded. “Incoming!” Flowey’s warnings were helping the human keep ahead of danger but pain shot through their body every time they’d move.

     “Are you going to make it?” Flowey asked as the human stepped forward and grimaced in pain.

     “Couldn’t you drop me, heal, and then pick me up again before I hit the ground?” The human asked.

     “Do you realize how much you’re asking out of me right now?” Flowey responded. At the same time another white fireball randomly shot out from the ground.

     “I’ll manage it,” the human said upon seeing the fire leave behind another crystal in its wake. While moving toward it however another fireball had shot up and latched on the human’s left arm causing their sleeve to catch on fire. Nonetheless they kept racing towards the crystal while rapidly patting their arm.

     “Heads up, you’re about to run into it,” Flowey said. The human looked up and saw a geyser spot forming right were they were about to be which also happened to be where the crystal was. They slowed down just as the flames shot up causing the crystal to grow larger just like before.

     “I’m going to try to knock this one out a lot faster. Keep looking out for me alright,” the human said while approaching and raising both hands in front of the crystal.

     “Ok, I’ve got your back,” Flowey responded. The human was definitely releasing pulses of soul energy at a faster rate at the cost of toning down their self awareness.

     “Move left,” Flowey said. The human did just as he said to avoid getting hit with a fireball. Not too long after that the human successfully overloaded the second crystal causing Toriel’s flame sphere to get disoriented yet again.

     “You’re doing great, at this rate I think it’s going to give with just one more,” Flowey said enthusiastically. At that moment the human was running away from the crystal.

     “Come on, her body has to expel another one soon,” Flowey said to no one in particular. Amidst another round of dodging geysers Flowey felt the human slack up.

     “Woah, we can’t be having any of that. You’re so close, get up!” Flowey said. The human just hung there taking deep breaths with their eyes closed. At the same time another fireball was arcing toward them.

     “Not now!” Flowey said while moving the human out of danger by binding their top half to the ceiling. A geyser followed afterwards forcing Flowey to roll the human out of its way. As the geyser receded a white fireball emerged leaving another crystal behind.

     “Come on, it’s right there. You can do it!” Flowey shouted. The human lazily opened one of their eyes and looked at the crystal. They tried to move but it wasn’t working out for them. Flowey let out a heavy sigh.

     “Alright, I can see that I’ll have to do the heavy lifting by myself,” Flowey said while hanging the human by their ankles. He then twirled them around and tossed them across the room. The human’s path was being intercepted by another geyser attack that happened to fall right under the crystal yet again. Their eyes grew wide as flying through the air caused them to freak out a bit. The geyser was about to connect until Flowey had used another set of vines to quickly pull the human past it.

     “Stay determined kid, I know you’re tired but you have to finish what you started,” Flowey said. The human pretty much running on willpower at this point moved over to the crystal and held out both of their hands.

     “Sorry about that, just needed a short break. The shards aren’t helping me either,” the human said while releasing soul waves. In a few seconds the human overloaded the crystal and ran. A reverb effect was sent to Toriel once again causing the flame sphere to completely fall this time. They gave a sigh of relief as Toriel groggily rocked back and forth below.

     “Yes, can I get down now?” The human asked.

     “Sorry, the ground is still pretty hot down there,” Flowey answered.

     “Ah man!” The human responded.

     “Actually there’s one place you’d kind of be safe at,” Flowey said.

     “Kind of? What do you mea-AHH!” The human shouted as Flowey rapidly pulled all the shards from their back. He then threw them on top of Toriel and healed them. For about five seconds nothing went on except for the human, Toriel, and even Flowey all breathing rather heavily. The human had an ear to Toriel’s chest and noticed her heart beating very fast. They then focused on their own heartbeat and noticed that it was just as bad.

     “This doesn’t seem like something you ever wanted. Why break yourself to regain the memories if it meant no longer being the person they'd dream of coming back to?” The human asked her. Tears formed in Toriel’s eyes once again.

     “It’s too late to go back,” Toriel responded.

     “That’s just something people say when they feel like a mistake was made,” the human responded.

     “You’ll never know, you’ll never understand,” Toriel said.

     “That doesn’t have to be true. You could just talk with me about it,” the human said. Toriel started shaking her head rapidly. The human then hugged Toriel really tight.

     “Look, I don’t know what’s going on with you. From what you told me, or yourself perhaps, you don’t want to be alone. I don’t know what Asgore did to make you like this, nor do I know why you’re afraid of confronting him. But you can’t let this go on when on the inside, you truly care about kids. Don’t let fear make you do things you know you wouldn’t want to,” the human said followed by a yawn.

     “I still plan on leaving this place because, as I said before, there’s still something on the surface for me. While I know you don’t want to be left alone, I need you to understand that I feel like I’ve left something behind. You might decide that none of this means anything to you but I’m honestly tired of battling at this point, so if you’re really motivated to kill me then at least let me get some more sleep in first,” the human said while closing their eyes.

     “What are you doing? Are you really just going to leave it at that?” Flowey shouted.

     “I’m giving her a choice Flowey,” the human answered. They then turned to Toriel and said, “You always have one,” then dozed off completely.

     There was no telling how much time had passed since the confrontation. The human dreamt peacefully but the thought of never waking up from the dream did cross their mind every now and then. However thinking about the look on Toriel’s face when she had killed them the first time made them wonder if crossing the line was the only way she’d realize when she was messing up. The thoughts rattled around leaning to one side then the next up to the point that the dream was no longer a dream.

     The human woke up in shock and examined their own body. There didn’t seem to be any wounds on them. Even stranger was the fact that they were in a brand new set of clothes. They looked around to see mostly a dark room. After a moment or so their eyes adjusted and they saw that Flowey was resting on a desk right next to them.

     “What hap-“ The human placed their hand over their own mouth upon seeing that Toriel was also sleeping at the side of the bed. _They were waiting, for me?_ The human thought. The surprise became relief after a short moment. The human then laid their head down once again and smiled. Knowing that the faith they had placed in her wasn’t in vain made the human have a dream even more soothing than the last.

     “I apologize for all the hardship I forced upon you,” Toriel said. The three were in the living room which was in pretty rough condition after Toriel’s episode led to a bit of property damage.

     “It’s ok,” the human said while laying out a set of wooden planks for Toriel. Flowey held several planks up to a wall while Toriel propped them up with hammer and nails.

     “Thank you two so much for helping me fix this place back up,” Toriel said.

     “It’s a good the thing the fire was localized to this room only,” Flowey said. He then looked over by the fireplace and noticed that Toriel’s chair was strangely unharmed.

     “Quick question, if the chair was the first thing you ignited, then how come it looks fine?” Flowey asked.

     “Oh, that chair has a lot of good memories so I made sure to fireproof it. We wouldn’t be doing all this cleaning had I just sat there and calmed down. I wasn’t thinking clearly when I found out you knew about my diary. That’s not even true, I haven’t been thinking clearly for quite some time now,” Toriel said with a sigh.

     “It’s not a problem. Just remember that there’s always time to make sure you’re exactly who you want to be,” the human reassured. Toriel gave them a smile and ran a hand through their hair.

     “I’ll be able to handle the rest by myself. For now, I’ll cook us up something to eat,” Toriel said joyfully.

     “About that,” the human responded. Toriel looked at them with one eyebrow raised.

     “The thing is- What you’ve been making is actually pretty lethal to humans,” Flowey interrupted.

     “Oh, silly me, I should’ve known better. Now that I think about it, there may have been a time where a human had a similar conversation with me. I'm not talking about the poor soul I had doomed during one of my episodes either. I feel like I had dealt with a human long before then,” Toriel said.

     “Interesting, well in any case I suggest we go out to eat,” the human said.

     “Oh, I’ll bite, but I doubt the other inhabitants of the ruins will take kindly to me,” Toriel said.

     “It won’t be that bad. They just have to get to know you. Let’s go everyone,” the human said. The three got out of the house and went around until they were back at the home of the curious carrot chef known as Vegetoid.

     “There you are, I’ve been looking for you,” the human said while approaching him.

     “Human has returned for more food by Vegetoid yes?” He asked while rising from the ground. Upon seeing Toriel he froze. She gave him the warmest smile she could manage, but it was simply met with Vegetoid trying to quickly retreat into the ground.

     “Hey, where are you going? You should’ve at least said hi,” the human said while completely plucking Vegetoid out of the ground.

     “Release Vegetoid now, Vegetoid is in danger!” He screamed.

     “Look, we all came here to eat and have a good time. Just relax and do what you do best and I promise Vegetoid will cook and not be cooked. Understood?” The human asked. Vegetoid looked at Toriel who politely bowed her head in response.

     “Vegetoid trust you?” He asked.

     “Yes Vegetoid can,” the human answered. The group proceeded to dine among the pile of leaves while eating food and sharing a few jokes every now and then. Suddenly a fluttering noise became audible from up above.

     “It sounds pretty lively down there,” a familiar voice said; it was Whimsun.

     “Come on down, there’s more than enough room,” the human said while waving to him. He happily fluttered downward and waved to Flowey and Vegetoid. However as Toriel came into view he stopped moving all together and fell out of the sky. Everyone was now looking down on him with concern.

     “I knew he wasn’t going to handle this well, I just didn’t expect him to die on sight,” Flowey said.

     “Quit messing around Flowey, he’s not going to die, I’m sure he just fainted,” the human said. After about twenty minutes Whimsun had woke up again to laughter and a plate of fresh vegetables. He looked around and saw Vegetoid passing out more food to Toriel.

     “Oh, you’re up. Listen, things have changed, so play nice ok,” the human said. Toriel then moved over to them and gave a small wave.

     “Hello, my name is Toriel… which I figure you already know,” she said feeling a little irritated. “I’m the new caretaker of the ruins. After walking around the place myself it doesn’t seem like I’ve done a good job,” she said nervously. Whimsun stared on with a perplexed expression before munching on a bit of corn.

     “I never thought I’d see a group of monsters being all social like this. Especially you whose been known for making this place get rather dusty,” he said.

     “Oh, that would only make sense,” Toriel said while gloomily nodding her head in agreement.

     “What are you doing? There’s no point in fretting yourself. The world hasn’t dealt us too good of a hand so naturally we’d stick to emptying out everyone else’s. No matter the monster we’re all the same in the fact that everyone has a record,” Whimsun said.

     “Really now,” another familiar voice said. Upon looking up the human saw Loox and Migosp descending into the hole. “And where is yours Whimsun?” Loox taunted.

     “Hey, watch yourself because I’m as fierce as they come,” Whimsun responded before turning back to Toriel. “Anyways, it’s good not having to see things run and die for a change. This kid is out to make some very ambitious changes because they know who we are and what we’ve done, all to help us throw off the shackles we’re all too familiar with. I’m sure all of you are done listening to me talk so long story short, despite our history we should live a little, because a guy like me could get used to this, how about you?” Whimsun said before biting into a slice of potato.

     “Look at all this, you’ve really changed this place for the better,” Flowey told the human.

     “Yeah, it’s going to take a while for me to escape the underground, but I’d like to help as many monsters as possible along the way. Maybe there will come a time that the underground resembles the way the first had left it,” the human responded.

     The gathering went on for about three hours before coming to an end. All the monsters gave thanks to their Vegetoid host and took their leave simultaneously. The atmosphere became a little more subtle as the human traveled back to Toriel’s place. Toriel was happier than she had been in quite some time. The human was just as chipper seeing how well everything turned out. Something seemed to be weighing on Flowey’s mind however.

     “That was a sweet time. I wish we could’ve seen Napstablook join in on the fun. He must’ve had other things to do,” the human said while entering the house. “Alright, I’m going to fill up the box so I can be ready for the trip,” the human turned around to see Toriel and Flowey in not so pleasant spirits anymore.

     “What’s going on?” They asked.

     “Look, you’ve accomplished a lot here, and the underground is a lot bigger than it seems,” Flowey said.

     “Your point is?” The human asked feeling a little uneasy now.

     “I don’t think you should leave the ruins,” Flowey said.

     “What? I have to get back to the surface Flowey, you know that,” the human said.

     “He has a point my child,” Toriel said.

     “This again?” They said angrily.

     “It’s not even like that. I’m not asking you to stay here for the sake of my loneliness, I’m asking you to stay here out of concern for your well being,” Toriel said.

     “I thought we agreed on not letting fear rule your actions,” the human said while crossing their arms.

     “I know, but the thing is I don’t think you’d…” Toriel said then paused.

     “You’re not going to make it.” Flowey said.

     “What? How could you of all people doubt me after seeing what we’ve done?” The human said.

     “The challenges you’ve endured here are not small in the least. However they don’t compare to the hardships that await you on the way to the King’s Castle. I fear the task might be too much for us. I don't want this world to change you like it did me,” Flowey said.

     “The realm beyond is full of aggressive monsters who’ve chosen to ignore compassion and pursue combat for the rest of their lives. If you dare to venture out there King Asgore will take your soul!” Toriel explained.

     “King Asgore? The King is responsible for your anxiety and bad memory?” The human asked.

     “Oh, sadly yes. I'm not afraid of telling you anything, but I simply can’t remember it still,” Toriel said.

     “Alright, since I still can't piece your story together, what can you tell me about Asgore?” The human asked. Toriel let out a sigh and made her way over to the living room chair. The human followed her and placed Flowey’s boot on the floor.

     “Asgore like the rest of us was devastated when humanity suddenly attacked us. Originally he was a beacon of hope proclaiming that monsters will reach a level of equal understanding with humans once again. That changed when something important to him had been lost. From that point on he’s spent every waking moment plotting revenge,” Toriel said.

     “How did his actions affect the rest of the underground?” The human asked.

     “Asgore forced monsters to embody a brutal life style with the only rule being kill or be killed. The monsters eventually lost faith in each other and became indiscriminately hostile. He didn’t care, those who can’t fight don’t have a future was his response to seeing monsters attack each other each day,” Toriel said.

     “Humanity stopped him before right? How does he plan on beating them this time?” The human asked.

     “Asgore will invade the surface by acquiring seven human souls. With that power the barrier will break allowing all the monsters to go above. Absorbing seven human souls will make him unstoppable, and unlike last time he actually plans on fighting back,” Toriel explained while holding one of the human’s hands.

     “How many souls does he have at the moment?” The human asked.

     “Unfortunately, he’s already collected six of them. Whenever I think about the fact that I’m responsible for one, I feel rather guilty at times,” Toriel said.

     “You don’t have to keep apologizing, back to the Asgore situation, if the pain he felt made him get angry at humans, then couldn’t I show him that we’re not all the same?” The human asked. Toriel couldn’t resist giving them a hug at that point.

     “You’re an amazing child. However, even with my memory it’s not hard to tell that Asgore has changed dramatically. To have your view of things might’ve been the ideal at some point and time, but unfortunately he’s not the same person he used to be,” Toriel said.

     “I get that both of you are hesitant to let me go outside of the ruins because of the unpleasant vibes and Asgore’s plan for vengeance, but either way I can’t just stop. The odds were against me before but I was still able to make it this far. While it doesn’t seem likely I definitely believe that there’s a small chance we can get to the King and convince him to let us go without killing anyone,” the human said. Their little speech was met with silence from both Toriel and Flowey.

     “I figured as much. It just means my job is that much harder,” Flowey said. The human looked at Flowey in surprise.

     “True enough, Flowey has always done his best to protect you from what I heard,” Toriel said.

     “I’ve been around you long enough to know that all of our warnings are pretty much falling on deaf ears. I don’t really feel comfortable just sending you out there by yourself either. With that being said, there really isn’t a better option than seeing you through to the end,” Flowey said.

     “I wish you both the best of luck. I had thought about leaving the ruins, but I feel it’s a little too soon for me. Make sure you get some rest, you won’t be reaching the King’s Castle in a day,” Toriel said.

     “Ok, goodnight Toriel,” the human said.

     “Goodnight my child,” Toriel responded.

     Before going to sleep the human and Flowey packed up a few outfits and food for when they head out. A few more shoes were added to the mix in case something were to happen to Flowey’s along the way. Toriel powered through her exhaustion long enough to finish restoring her living room before catching some sleep herself. For about six hours everyone rested peacefully in the quiet house. However not too long after that the human and Flowey were hastily woken up by Toriel.

     “What’s going on?” The human still a bit drowsy had asked.

     “Get up quickly, if you’re going to leave than now would be the best time if any,” Toriel said.

     “Why is that?” Flowey asked.

     “All of the patrol units should be off duty around this time, so there shouldn’t be anyone around to cause interferences. That way sneaking through Snowdin Forest should be that much easier for you,” she said while carrying Flowey’s boot in one hand and holding the human’s hand with the other. The trio made their way down the stairs and up to the exit door before Toriel stopped and gave the human a hug.

     “It’s a rough world out there and the monsters won’t hesitate to push your limits. You’ll be good, won’t you?” Toriel said.

     “Yeah, I’ll be good,” the human said while hugging her back. She then opened the door and waved goodbye for the last time as they went on through. They found themselves in a tunnel that happened to be rather dark, with a small but bright light coming from the far end. As they kept walking they noticed the light was coming from a doorway. The closer they got to it the colder it started to get. Upon finally getting through the door the human placed Flowey’s boot on the ground and clutched their self.

     “Wow, its cold here!” The human said.

     “If there’s no snow, then it ain’t Snowdin,” Flowey said.

     “How is this possible? It wasn’t snowing before I fell down. Having an underground forest also seems pretty strange,” the human said. At the same time the door leading to the ruin tunnel had shut behind them.

     “I’m not too excited about it either but on a brighter note we aren’t burning,” Flowey responded. The human started laughing.

     “Bad enough monsters are trying to kill me, now the underground itself has something to say,” the human said.

     “We’re lucky to have made it this far. I wasn’t too happy when you fell asleep on her. The moment we were alone she started fighting herself again. I honestly thought she was going to send us all right back to the last soul anchor,” Flowey said. The human found themselves too distracted to entertain the harmless gripes from Flowey upon noticing something odd within a bush.

     “What is that?” The human said while walking over to a bush. Flowey examined the bush and noticed something clear just beneath the surface.

     “Bushes can’t have eyes can they?” The human asked.

     “That’s not an eye, that’s a camera. Run!” Flowey responded. On command the human darted down the snowy trail with an abundance of trees looming over from both sides. The human’s eyes darted here and there upon hearing a rustling noise amongst the bushes. They started to panic as the same noise was heard again from up ahead.

     “Nothing is supposed to be around here!” The human said.

     “Just keep on running!” Flowey said. The human saw a branch on the ground and ran by it. A moment afterwards they heard the sound of the branch snapping and got really scared.

     “What’s chasing us?” The human asked. Flowey turned around and saw the branch broken in two but for some strange reason he didn’t see anything else.

     “Run faster!” Flowey said. As the human kept running they saw a gate slowly come into view.

     “What are we going to do now, there’s nowhere else for us to run,” the human said.

     “I need more time to think,” Flowey said. The human came to a stop upon reaching the gate and turned around. They shifted their gaze left and right once more but still couldn’t find anything that stuck out in the forest. Suddenly the sound of intimidating laughter filled the air. However neither Flowey nor the human could tell where it was coming from.

     “Human, don’t you know how to greet… a new pal? Turn around… and shake my hand,” a mysterious voice said. The human was completely frozen while Flowey slowly and reluctantly turned around and gasped.

     “What is it Flowey!” The human said in a panic.

     “There’s no one there,” Flowey answered.

     “What?” The human said while turning around. Sure enough there wasn’t anyone behind them. As they looked on in confusion a chill ran down their spine as a hand clasped down on their shoulder.

     “Gotcha!” The mysterious voice said. The human jumped, accidentally causing them to toss Flowey in the process. The quick escape made them lose balance as well so they tumbled right before the gate. They then rolled over and crawled backwards with one hand raised.

     “Stay back!” The human said. The mystery monster was a short but stocky skeleton that was wearing a black hoodie with a red shirt underneath, a pair of basketball shorts, and flip flops. The eyes looked light small red dots floating about each eye socket. There were also very sharp teeth one of them being golden. Flowey and the boot sat nervously within its right hand.

     “It feels so good to startle souls on the late night shift. That look on your face, stuff never gets old,” the skeleton said with a laugh.

     “Who are you and what do you want from us?” The human asked. The skeleton only responded with a more sinister chuckle.

     “You’re a human right? That’s hilarious. Normally I wouldn’t have words for the doomed but this seems like an interesting enough case,” he said.

     “Doomed?” The human said with a perplexed look on their face.

     “Of course, both of you happened to draw the short end of the straw. A face like this isn’t one that’s easily forgotten,” he said while lifting Flowey up to his eyes. “You’ve been rather quiet, what’s got you so scared?” He asked with an unnerving smile.

     “It’s hard to keep cool when there’s a chance you might die any second,” Flowey responded. The skeleton then shrugged with his left arm.

     “You’re in Snowdin, keeping cool should be the least of your problems,” he said.

     “Right, now that I think about it. How do you know me, have I seen you somewhere before?” Flowey asked. Both of them paused for a moment until the skeleton closed his eyes and gave a slight chuckle.

     “No, of course not. Think about it, when Asgore puts a bulls-eye on you then every monster in the underground knows who you are at that point,” he responded.

     “That’s enough, could you put Flowey down please?” The human said.

     “Oh, it has a name now. That’s interesting,” he said.

     “Yes I do, why can’t you tell us yours?” Flowey responded.

     “Alright, I’m Sans, Sans the Skeleton. I’m actually supposed to be on watch for human’s right now but I’m really not motivated enough to do this kind of thing. However my brother, Papyrus, he’s a human hunting fanatic. There’s no way you’ll get out of Snowdin without running into him, but you’re free to try nonetheless,” Sans said while placing Flowey on the ground next to the human.

     “I’m not sure what you’re trying to pull, but won’t the gate still be a problem?” The human asked while picking up Flowey.

     “You want to know a secret, kid? A human hasn’t run by these parts for many years, decades even. Kind of a shame since my brother went through all the hard work to make gates as stalwart as these. I’ve crossed this path a thousand times before you got to see it just once. Point is I wanted to find the easiest way to do nothing, so I decided to never lock them in the first place,” Sans said before pulling the gate open. Flowey just looked on with a dumbfounded expression before turning towards the human.

     “You never tried to open the gate?” He asked.

     “I assumed it was locked given that a mystery voice was cornering us. It was a spur of the moment kind of thing you know,” the human reluctantly admitted. They then proceeded through the door to find a lamp and some sort of stand. Everyone came to a stop as a constant yelling noise could be heard in the distance.

     “Speak of the devil and he shall appear,” Sans said with a sigh.

     “What are you talking about?” The human asked nervously.

     “You don’t hear all of that complaining? It means my brother is on his way,” Sans responded.

     “What!” Flowey shouted.

     “That’s right, now that I think about it, this means you two are in trouble huh. What are the doomed to do I wonder,” Sans said while tapping his golden tooth. The human frantically searched around for a moment before running over to the lamp and hiding behind it. They then silently peaked from one side of the lamp as the shouting and footsteps temporarily stopped.

     “Papyrus, what’s the deal bro?” Sans said. Papyrus was taller and thinner than Sans. His upper body was covered by a black armor piece with spiked shoulder extensions. A red scarf hung around the armor and also doubled as a cape. He had tight black pants as well as a long set of gloves and boots which were all red. He had sharp teeth and glowing red eyes like Sans but there was a small crack in his skull trailing down to an eye socket.

     “Sans you incompetent, lazy, unreliable- Man, what could I have done to deserve so much love,” Sans sarcastically interrupted.

     “Don’t act like you don’t know what’s going on here. It’s been eight days and you still haven’t updated your trials. You’ve been lounging about your station doing… what are you even doing right now?” Papyrus asked.

     “I’m checking out this lamp, didn’t it always seem a little tacky to you?” As he said that the human internally screamed while Flowey’s thoughts were 'I hate him already'.

     “There’s no time to entertain you and your ridiculous distractions, there’s a chance that a human will come through any moment, and I have to be ready. I must be the one, no I will be the one to capture them. Then I’ll have all the respect and recognition I properly deserve,” Papyrus said.

     “I don’t know bro, your chance at that future has been looking pretty dim if you ask me,” Sans said.

     “Enough with the lamp puns Sans, you won’t have that smile once I’ve lost my patience,” Papyrus threatened. Sans moved in front of the lamp causing the human to get even more nervous.

     “You think you can derail my radiant style of comedy?” Sans asked with a shrug.

     “This is your last warning!” Papyrus responded.

     “Shame, I figured you were brighter than that,” Sans said while pointing a thumb behind his back. The human fearing the worst tried to make themselves as small as they possibly could. At the same time Papyrus’s hand started to glow with a red aura. For a moment the brothers were staring at each other with great intensity.

     “You don’t have the bones,” Sans said with a serious look. Papyrus raised his hand in San’s direction causing a bone to materialize out of nowhere. He then projected it at Sans who dodged to the side causing it to pierce the lamp. The human looked at the part of the bone sticking through the other side of the lamp and tried their best to avoid breathing heavily.

     “Hopefully he’s done,” Flowey nervously whispered. It was then that the bone exploded completely taking out the lamp and knocking Flowey and the human into Papyrus’s line of sight.

     “What’s this?” Papyrus said while walking towards them. “Oh my god Sans, is that a human?” Papyrus said while placing his palm rather hard on top of San’s head.

     “Ouch, but yeah,” Sans responded.

     “Finally!” Papyrus shouted followed by a menacing laugh.

     “Here we go,” an unenthusiastic Sans said while rolling eyes.

     “Human, it’s not often that someone like you gets to be defeated by the great Papyrus. Rest assured that once you’ve suffered a painful demise your soul will be given to King Asgore and spell doom for the surface,” Papyrus said, he then turned his back to them before speaking again.

     “I’ll honor you with a proper duel to the death, but first you will undergo evaluation as to see if your skills meet the high standards that put my combat record at a commendable level. Come if you dare but know that one step might be your last,” Papyrus said before walking off. The human stared on in confusion until Sans started laughing.

     "What are you going to do now that he's got you in his sights? Of course you could try to high tail it back to wherever it is that you came from. Getting through this place couldn't be that important, right?" Sans said mockingly.

     "No, I'm not going to stop here," the human responded.

     "It's your funeral," Sans said while tucking both hands into the pockets of his hoodie.

     "That's not enough reason for me to run away," the human responded. _Is it now?_ Sans thought while bringing his left hand up to his chin.

     "You ready for this?" Flowey asked.

     "I doubt it," Sans intruded. "You're not going to survive here. Your mind is just too weak, and this world is full of all sorts of atrocities. Looks like my bro is having fun, so by all means, go get yourself killed," Sans said.

     "I can handle myself," the human said, but in the back of their mind that felt like an obvious lie. They then moved on before Sans could provoke them any further, but they still couldn't help but feel nervous.

     "Look over there," Flowey said as they came across a fork in the road. Up ahead there was a box partially covered in snow.

     "Wait a minute, I've seen this before," the human said. Sure enough as they approached the box they noticed it was the same as the one they left at Toriel's. Upon opening the box all the things they had left before was back in front of them. Upon downing a couple of snacks with Flowey the human felt their soul overflow with energy again.

     "Do you know the way Flowey?" The human asked.

     "I was moving pretty fast, not so sure if I had tracked the path properly," Flowey responded. The human figured they'd take to the left first. They had to come to a stop however as a river blocked their path. The only thing around was a broken fishing rod that had a note attached to the end.

     "What in the world?" The human said. They looked at the note to find a picture of a rough looking monster on the front with a phone number and the words 'call me' on the back.

     "Let's go back," a slightly rattled Flowey said.

     "Agreed," the human responded while discarding the note. They then went back and followed the path that was on the right this time. Along the trail they found another stand that looked a lot more refined and organized compared to the one they had to hide next to.

     "This thing is pretty well kept," the human said.

     "True, the first one was drenched with the smell of mustard," Flowey said.

     “This must be Papyrus’s. It’s just far enough to fit where Sans warned us he was approaching,” the human said.

     “That’s cool and all but it doesn’t do anything for us besides show how particulate he is when it comes to detail,” Flowey responded.

     “True enough. He’s already found us, and I don’t think Sans was lying when he said his brother would make it that much harder for us to get out of Snowdin,” the human responded. The two then proceeded down the trail until they came across a third stand. Unlike the first two this was one was roughed up in certain areas and even had cut marks on the side.

     “Weird, I wonder what could’ve happened here,” Flowey said. The human with the exact same thought in mind just continued walking until they noticed a desk bell on the station counter. Unable to control their curiosity the human stepped over and rung it.

     “Why did you do that?” Flowey whispered intensely.

     “Sorry, it stood out in a way I found hard to ignore,” the human whispered back. For a moment nothing seemed to happen but as soon as the two had slacked off they were caught by surprise when they saw a flash of silver quickly descend right next to their hand. Upon stumbling back the human looked up to see a knife sticking up from the counter.

     “Shoot, another miss,” a mystery voice had said. The human gave a perplexed look as the unknown figure plucked the knife from the counter and hopped over the side. The human was able to make out a partially roughed up waiter’s uniform with black vest and bow tie. There was also black and white fur with big ears and fangs.

     “Wait a minute… are you… a dog?” The human asked. At that point the bipedal dog monster turned to face the human while equipping another knife in his left hand.

     “It’s Doggo, to be exact,” the monster responded.

     “If it’s ok with you I’d really prefer not to do this right now,” the human said.

     “You want to leave so soon? That’s not good, I haven’t even left a mark yet. My toys need to be more durable than that,” he responded while pointing a knife in the human’s direction.

     “I’d be much happier playing a less dangerous game,” the human responded.

     “Foolish!” He responded while lunging towards the human. The human panicked and fell over as Doggo descended with the knife in his left hand. Fear and confusion blended in the human’s mind as they saw the strike land directly to the right of their head.

     “I missed again? Darn these crazy eyes,” he said. The human looked at Doggo’s face and noticed that one eye was orange while the other was a light blue color. They then rolled out of the way as he stood up and closed both of his eyes. Upon opening only his right eye both of the knives started to glow with an orange aura. The human stood there silently as his widening smile made them uncomfortable.

     “There you are,” he said before sprinting at the human. He then aimed for the throat using the knife in his right hand.

     “Oh no!” The human said while ducking under the swipe and running behind him. _Weird, I thought he couldn’t see anything,_  Flowey thought. It also seemed pretty weird to Flowey that the aura around the knives seemed to shrink as the human evaded the attack. Fearing for their life, they started running away from him as fast as they could.

     “Irritating little blur,” he said while following after them. He kept trying to swipe at them but he was way off every time. The human fell down again and rolled over to look at him. For a moment his eyes were closed up until the point he opened the left one by itself. The phenomenon that followed was almost identical to the first except the eye and knife auras were light blue now.

     “You’re finished this time,” he said while charging the human with the blade lined up with the center of their face. The human was crawling backwards as he attacked and rolled to the side as the attack got dangerously close. They then stood up and stepped backwards while Doggo slowly pursued. Upon rubbing a hand across their cheek the human saw blood.

     “No way,” Flowey said to himself. _His knife definitely got longer as the human moved out of the way this time. There has to be a reason for those weird eyes, and the specific colored soul frequencies, and the different reaction auras._ Flowey thought.

     “It’s over for you,” Doggo said. He then jumped on top of the sentry station and launched himself at the human with his right hand ready to strike. They couldn’t move due to how scared they were so he ran straight through them. For a moment all three of them were silent.

     “Another miss, you have to be kidding me!” Doggo complained. The human examined their self and was surprised to see that they were alright.

     “I get it now,” Flowey said.

     “What are you on about?” Doggo asked.

     “Your powers, that’s a magic archetype called chain dynamics. I came across it multiple times while trying to get through the CORE. The effectiveness will change based on whether you counter an opponent that is or isn’t moving. Flowey explained.

     “What does it matter?” He asked while crossing his arms.

     “You’re kind of like me. There’s only one person I can think of that’s capable of this. I still don’t know what she is honestly. Still, she’s the one that did this to you am I right?” Flowey asked.

     “Like you? Wait, does that mean, you’re the abomination?” Doggo asked. Flowey gave a sigh of annoyance.

     “Regrettably, yes,” Flowey answered. At that point Doggo stuck both knives in the ground and laid down on his side with his head propped up by his right palm.

     “It’s not just us. Almost every dog monster has been taken and modified to become extra foot soldiers for the royal guard. As far as chain dynamics are concerned, the king gave her the base formula which she used as the root of a soul altering science experiment. The final product was a fluid that she’d drop into each eye on a set schedule,” Doggo explained.

     “It doesn’t seem to have gone as planned. What was she trying to get out of you?” Flowey asked.

     “If everything had gone her way then I would’ve had the most efficient eyes in the underground. She intended to couple that with my already extraordinary reaction time to make me a secret member of the royal guard and the king’s personal assassin. As you can see I was a failure and getting my eyes to work as one became nearly impossible,” Doggo explained.

     “That’s horrible, well I’m looking for answers myself so maybe we could come to an agreement,” Flowey said.

     “Don’t bother, there’s no point in sympathizing for me when I chose this path on my own. Even if you did find a way to get the answers from her it won’t do you any good because her plans are way bigger than you and I. The only thing left for people like me is to keep fighting. What are you going to do anyway? Our overlord wants to crush you in his bare hands and the only one around to help you is a child exhibiting no ability whatsoever,” Doggo responded. He then jumped up from the ground as he felt something strange happen with his head and landed atop of the sentry station again.

     “What was that? Did one of you just… pet me?” He inquired.

     “That was me, sorry about that. I think there’s other things for you besides fighting because we all have a choice and I choose not to,” the human said. Doggo alternated between sights to locate the human and jumped down in front of them.

     “If you don’t fight then you die. If you continue to not fight back anyway, then doesn’t that pretty much make you an idiot?” Doggo said with a shrug.

     “I feel that it’s more important to try to make friends. If you want, you and I could be friends,” the human responded. Doggo picked them up by one hand and pulled them closer.

     “Why would you want to make friends when everyone down here is so different from you? I doubt the dogs on the surface talk to you, I bet they don’t have thumbs or use knives or have different colored eyes either,” he said.

     “It’s true that you’re different, but in my opinion that’s what makes you so cool,” the human said before petting him again. “Shoot, once again I’m sorry about that.” He stared at the human for a moment before dropping them back on the ground.

     “Just get out of here,” he said while walking over to his station.

     “So you’re just going to let us go?” Flowey asked. Doggo ignored him and hopped back inside his station before curling up on the ground. The two decided to give him some space and continued down the trail. Flowey noticed the human was humming a pleasant tune as they advanced.

     “You’ve gotten really chipper,” he said.

     “Oh, well, it felt good to be able to have a reasonable talk with someone because the vibe this place gives off is more intense than it was at the ruins. Plus, I was afraid to think of what Papyrus has in stored for us next time we see him,” the human responded.

     “You don’t have to wait anymore, take a look,” Flowey said while directing the human’s attention up ahead. The human focused hard and saw that in the distance both Sans and Papyrus were waiting for them.

     “Uh oh, these trials can’t be too bad, right?” The human said as they got closer and closer to the brothers. As they cleared the trail the forest came to an end and they saw the brothers on the opposite side of a zone of snow leveled into a square.

     “That’s far enough human,” Papyrus said while signaling them to stop with his right hand. “Your first trial will be a test of awareness. The only way you’ll pass is if you possess a natural sense for danger as keen as my own. So without further ado, I present…” Papyrus paused mid-sentence to give a maniacal laugh. “…the invisible electricity maze!”


End file.
